


My Way or the Highway

by watcherofworlds



Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fill, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26820367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Prompt fill for Whumptober Day 3 "My Way or the Highway"
Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956160
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	My Way or the Highway

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in an AU where Oliver still became the Spectre and rebooted the universe at the end of Crisis, but made it home to his family instead of becoming trapped in the pocket dimension.

“I’m out of patience,” the man in the ski mask who had broken into their home, turning an otherwise uneventful evening into a life or death situation, growled, and, to Oliver’s horror, turned the gun he’d had trained on him on his wife and children. “If you don’t give me what I want I swear to God I’m going to kill them.”

“Please,” Oliver pleaded, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. “I don’t  _ know _ what you want.” He chanced a glance, first to Felicity, who was alternating between watching him and the man currently holding them all at gunpoint, wary of the latter’s every move, then to his children, to William and Mia, the former holding the latter tightly, while she was, though not blissfully, unaware of what was happening, too young to understand it but still just old enough to know that she should be afraid.

“Yes, you do,” the man in the ski mask insisted, turning Oliver’s attention back to him. He was getting frantic now, the gun he held rattling in his grip as his hand shook. Oliver felt the Spectre come awake, whispering to be let forth, to be set free, but he kept it back. He’d become adept at keeping it at bay when necessary, and he knew that now was a time for compassion, for at least an attempt at understanding, not for vengeance or retribution.

“I swear to you, I don’t,” he said, inching closer to the man threatening his family’s life, a little at a time, coming to a halt before he could notice that he was moving. “So, why don’t tell me what it is, and I’ll if there’s some way I can help you get it.”

“After the Crisis, you rebooted the universe and brought back everyone we had lost,” the man in the ski mask said. “But not my wife. I want you to bring her back.”

“Did she die in the Crisis?” Oliver asked, trying to understand the situation better, risking moving a little closer to him. He shook his head.

“No,” he said. “In the seige. I watched one of those… _ monsters _ murder her right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. But this, I can do. I can make you bring her back.”

“I’m sorry,” Oliver said, “but if she didn’t die in the Crisis, then there’s nothing I can do. I understand how much it must have hurt to lose her, trust me, I do, but the power given to me by the Spectre doesn’t extend that far.”

“Liar!” the man in the ski mask yelled, making them all flinch. In William’s arms, Mia, disturbed by the noise, started crying, adding to the chaos. “I know that your mother and your friend were dead before! You brought them back, you can do the same for my wife!”

“No, I can’t,” Oliver said solemnly. “I was able to bring Tommy and my mother back because I know them, and know them well, but your wife is a stranger to me. If I tried to bring her back, something about her wouldn’t be right, because I don’t know her. She wouldn’t be the person you love. I’m sorry.”

“But…” the man in the ski mask mumbled, trailing off. He collapsed to his knees, holding his gun in a slack grip, and the rest of the people in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief. “You- you don’t understand. She was the love of my life. I’ve learned how to get by without her in the years since her death, but I was never really living. When I thought there might be a way to get her back, I had hope again. I don’t know how I’ll go on living now that it’s gone.”

“I know,” Oliver murmured, stepping into his space and carefully, gently taking the gun from his hand. “And I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to find some way of figuring that out. Because this?”- he gestured to encompass them all, indicating the recently resolved situation- “This was never the answer.”


End file.
